


Consequence of Past Actions

by royalelephant



Category: Chicago Med
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everybody is good people, M/M, POV Multiple, Pre-Slash, Rhodestead - Freeform, Trans Character, What Will were doing in NY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 19:56:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royalelephant/pseuds/royalelephant
Summary: When he was in New York he worked as a plastic surgeon, Dr. Halstead had an acquaintance owning a private clinic in the dodgier side of downtown. At this local clinic, by not taking any doctor’s fee he had offered cheaper surgeries to those with lesser income but as great needs for plastic surgeries. Now past patients started coming out of the woodwork, his present started to change for Dr. Halstead. Fast. And he himself might not have caught up with it yet.





	1. CARMEN

**Author's Note:**

> The moment I learned about Will being plastic surgeon in a big city, I immediately thought about this doctor in by city who offer cheap breast implantation to trans-women who need it but couldn't afford the big hospitals' fees. So maybe this make this story as 'based on a true story' but I assured you it's not.
> 
> My headcanon is that this is why Maggie’s sister being a transitional woman did not faze him, only that she was hiding it to the detrimental effect of her own health, since his former clients in New York were mostly open about who they were and hopeful about what they wanted from him. Being transgender was just a state of being for Dr. Halstead, one he could help augmented by offering the cheaper surgeries and non-judgmental ears.

 

 

 

Dr . Will Halstead was out on a date with Dr. Nina Shore one pleasant evening, sitting on the counter of a bar, when a beautiful model-tall woman approached him, calling out his name, asking if he remembered her. He was puzzled and did not recognize her until she pulled her hair up in a bun and lower her voice “It’s Carmen. Dr. Hals, Carmen from Brooklyn”.

Will instantly brightened and beamed at her. He stood up in a flash “Carmen. You look so good I didn’t recognize you” then offered her a hand only to be pulled into a tight hug and he laughed but went along with it. “You here for work?” Will asked after she released him.

“Well, I got married!” She exclaimed, earning a happy congratulation from the doctor, before she went on. “I also was offered an associate position here in Chicago, so we’d just moved here about a couple of months ago. My husband opened a branch for his fancy eatery just down the street. Doctor, you must come visit!” She enthused excitedly, gaining another laughter from Will.

“Oh, hey. Yeah, this is Nina” he gestured for Nina who stood up as she was being addressed and offered Carmen a smile “my girlfriend. We work together at the Gaffney Chicago Med. You know, doctors and all. Nina this is Carmen, my former patient since my surgeon days” he introduced cheeriy.

The two women shook hands and exchanged pleasantry and Carmen excused herself to go back to her husband’s place, but did secure a promise for dinner sometime next week before she went. The couple went back to their drinks after that, but no matter how Nina asked, Will wouldn’t disclose the nature of Carmen’s surgery to her. Ever since the misstep with Janice, he didn’t want to risk upsetting Carmen by revealing her biological sex without clear consent.

 

 

Later in the week, Carmen, who was a successful accountant for an international accounting firm and her husband, who owned several high-end fusion food restaurants in Manhattan and now another in Chicago, were both determined to arrange a dinner with Dr. Halstead so that they could meet and thank him properly. For both of them, Carmen having received the breast implant years ago was the catalyst to them meeting and falling in love with each other, as after she had finally gotten an actual set of feminine breasts, she had become more comfortable with her body and her working performance cease to suffer from her mental stress. It was when she finally got the job at another firm which was located in Manhattan that they met. A story of how one act of kindness changed two lives in such wonderful ways.

So, once knowing that Dr. Halstead was now working in Gaffney Chicago Medical Institute Emergency Department, Carmen—formerly known as Michael—came to visit and finalize their dinner appointment. Looking beautiful and professional in a set of black blouse, charcoal suit and pencil skirt, she breezed gracefully on her brushed silver stilettos up to the nurse station, a package of food sampling set from her husband’s in her hand, asking for Dr. Halstead who happened to be walking towards the station himself. They greeted, arranged a date and time for dinner, and exchanged package of food all in span of five minutes and Carmen waltzed out, going back to her work not aware of the flabbergasted looks of the nurses and a few doctors around the room.

Despite Maggie’s and April’s best efforts, Will still refused to explain his relationship with the Pretty WomanTM. On one hand, this led to everyone concluding that he must had done either a makeover for her or something equally major to make her looked _that_ pretty. On the other, however, his refusal to share had made Dr. Shore a little uneasy since she saw this as her boyfriend keeping a secret from her.

 

Only a week after the Pretty Woman incident, a string of woman one after another of all size and type started to show up every other day. Most of them, though, seemed to have traveled to Chicago specifically to meet Dr. Halstead, only to greet him, give him hugs and kisses on the cheeks, and sometimes a quick lunch at the hospital canteen.

These women were all Dr. Halstead former clients at his alternative volunteer practice who felt that their lives had changed for the better after their encounter with the only surgeon in town who would offer them breast implantation without them having to save up for a decade or two. Most of them were now working well, in a good place in life and content with themselves. While many of them had had a repeat of the breast implants and augmentation done after the original surgery, Dr. Halstead’s stayed with them if only because he was the first to offer them the chance to feel like a woman and be like one. Therefore, once they had heard from Carmen that Dr. Halstead who moved out of New York after a disagreement with his practice partners was now attending Chicago Med ED, they came to see him. And those who couldn’t sent along their regards.

 

Dr. Will Halstead himself, however, was slightly embarrassed by this turn of situation since he still thought of his ‘volunteer surgery service’ as a rebellious phase when he was fed up with the riches demanding him to fix their imperfections while the less well to do people who actually needed his skill couldn’t even afford a consultation. Still, among the stream of former clients were a couple of patients who he had done a recovery surgery on their trauma scars that were obstructing their daily lives or their sense of self and self-worth in general. Will, being the kind of person he was, had never forget those and would be extra nice to them in particular. During the span of several weeks, in which Will found that most of his volunteer clients kept in contact with each other with Carmen as one of the main coordinators—unsurprising as she was the one to start his word-of-mouth reputation back in the day; the women had politely and unobtrusively visit their ‘Dr. Hals’. Those who were local to Chicago changed hospital they usually visited to Gaffney and asked if they could be attended to by Dr. Halstead when they were brought in.

 

 

This development had begun to make Dr. Nina Shore uncomfortable and she did try to talk to Will about it. Will, for his part, did try to explain to her about him once used to be a plastic surgeon in the big city before he went to Sudan for his humanitarian work and came back to Chicago to change specialty. All of the girls—they would always be the girls to him—were all his patients at one point before he was kicked out of the prestigious private practice and gave him the passion to heal and cure, hence Sudan. Still, the fact that Will were not willing to give more details about any of the women, who all were not inclined to approach any other hospital staffs but Dr. Hals had driven a wedge between their relationship while the occasional gifts, visits, and demands for hugs went on. At this point, Dr. Halstead had realized that these women preferred him to other doctors because he knew them more, and that they had trusted once and still trusted him again. This realization had lifted some weight of worry that had been wearing on him since the debacle of lawsuits and reprimands he had received on after another whence he was trying to do his best to help his clients. It reaffirmed his beliefs that trying to do whatever it took to safe them was not in vain, and it made him feel much more sure of himself like he had not been since he started his new residency.

 

 


	2. NINA

 

 

Nina Shore was a positive person. Nerdy and bubbly and always quick to assume the best of people. But her boyfriend not telling her the whole truths even in the face of her direct questions did not sit well with her at all. Add to that the numerous women trickling into their lives like a leaking artery, making Dr. Halstead smiled more than he ever was—gone were the looking into middle distance pauses that Will sometimes lapse into. The situation had become very frustrating. And now that the ‘former patents’ had started inviting ‘Dr. Hals’ to visit their workplaces or their homes, and Will agreeing to go along on his days off or evening, eating into their couple times and even his brother times with Jay...She had started reevaluating their relationship.

 

Will and Nina grew slightly apart every day, mostly due from her being uncomfortable with herself, that she could not be wholeheartedly happy for Will that he’s so loved. But it was equally due from the fact that Will had yet to realize that they were growing apart because he had so many new—or old—people in his life now, and he also had Connor as a closer friend. When Nina could not join Will to the dinner with Carmen and her husband and Will had gone alone, she did not foresee that he would come to confine in another friend on the topic of, she was sure, their disagreement. In hindsight, Nina knew that it was partly her fault for not taking no for an answer and demanding to know the things Will kept hidden. She knew that she was being unfair, and that Will was not the kind of man who would rant about his girlfriends to others, but sometimes she couldn’t help but thought that her boyfriend probably complained with his friend about how nosy she was. Still, having secrets was, she believed, detrimental to a long-term relationship that they were trying to build


	3. WILL & CONNOR

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Will had started talking more to Dr. Connor Rhodes, the trauma surgeon fellow who he had grown close after the doctor had prevented Will from doing something stupid and lost his license. At Molly’s after a shift, Will spoke to Connor about the feeling after a successful surgery—life-saving ones or not—and that sometimes he missed it. “But then I will go through a shift in the ED and remember it all over again why I chose to change my specialties in the first place. Connor, these girls are like that to me. They reminded me why I did what I did, and why it was worth it.”

Connor, who had always had keener eyes than most, knew many people in town, and actually operated on one of Dr. Hals’ patients recently, already had an inkling of what most, if not all, of the women had in in common—being transitional—chose not to pry, as he understood well the wish to let a closed chapter of one’s past remained as it was. Still, he listened and shared some of the feeling of accomplishment of a surgery gone well with his fellow surgeon, past or not. As weeks progressed, Connor noticed that Will and his girlfriend were growing apart, but still he did not say anything, thinking that it was not his place to do so. In his mind, they were not quite at that state of friendship just yet.

 

The situation continued sluggishly like this until one afternoon on a slow day, Maggie took the initiative as Will’s honorary family and scolded him for ignoring his girlfriend, after she ran an errand to pathology and noticed Dr. Shore seeming down on the moods and inquired about it. Will, for his part, was perplexed. Nothing had seemed off to him as he still went out on dates with Nina about once a week, though there had not been sex for quite some time…well, _that_ was the kind of information that he would keep to himself. Still, having learned to listen to Maggie, Will took the first moment that he could to go down to pathology and talk to Nina and inquired if she was all right. Nina had brushed his concerns aside until he reminded her that Carmen had invited them to dinner again that day in a group meet at Antoine’s since Nina had missed it the first time. Nina, succeeding in keeping her cheery but regretful mask, gave excused that she was too busy at the scheduled time but he should go anyway.

Even more confused, Will called Carmen to inform her that it would only be him tonight, or they could reschedule if she preferred. Carmen answered that they could reschedule to the day Nina was available, or they could to both and Will could invite his other friends in the ED. They could expand they acquaintance list and it would be good publicity for the shop, she joked. Relieved and cheered up at the easy attitude from his ex-patient-now-friend, Dr. Halstead went about asking the usual crew to join him, but as fate would have it, only Connor could join him on such short notice.

 

 

 

The next time they spoke, Nina broke up with him.

 

 

Will was part shocked, part sad, and a little angry. Connor, who by that time had saw it coming and knew by the look on his face that the inevitable had happened, had dragged Will to his apartment for a drink or dozen. They ended up talking through their first beer, though, with Will being maudlin and telling Connor about New York and his rebellious volunteering side jobs that gained him Carmen and the girls. At the point he’d realized that he had never told anyone else in Chicago about this, not even his brother Jay, Will was also reminded about the end of his relationship. He found that he was rather devastated over losing Nina. “She’s a part of my effort to move on from Nat, you know. She was so…bright and supportive, for me, and you know those things don’t come by often in my life. She’s like the only one who’s not disappointed in me. And now this…”

 

The kicked-puppy look was so pitiful that Connor ended up side-hugging Will's shoulders on the couch they shared when Will started to slouch down further in self-flagellation.

 

In the morning Will was cheerful and did not appear to think that it was weird for them to sleep in each other’s arms, even after a drink or two. Well, Will in Connor’s arms, more like, but still… He got up bright and early, already making breakfast still in yesterday’s clothes, throwing “I hope you don’t mind me using your kitchen” over his shoulder by the time Connor woke up with a crick in his neck.

Connor, on the other hand, felt a tad awkward with how _not_ awkward Will was after falling asleep in his arms and stayed there through the night—he could feel the phantom of a body there—and now making breakfast as if them spending the night together was normal.

Will called out again and looked at his friend this time when there was no response, “sorry, I know it’s a little early, but I need to go home for shower and a change. But I refuse to go another morning without food. So, sorry not sorry?” He smiled boyishly, and it was too bright this early in the morning “you can sleep a little more if you want, I’ll make some for you and keep it warmed?”

Connor startled out of his reverie, which must had caused his brain-to-mouth filter to short-circuited “No. Yeah. It’s ok, Thanks. You can take one of my shirts, though. No need to rush…” Realizing what his mouth was saying, Connor trailed off. “But if you’d prefer your own showe—” he started again, only to be overridden by a delighted “Hell, yes! Please, thank you” Will beamed at Connor. “You don’t know how much trouble you just saved me from. Now I don’t have to face my roommate during his morning naked exercise regimen” Will make a face at that. “I mean, he’s not that bad to look at but man, naked jumping jacks. Connor. Jumping Jacks. Not even I want to see ‘em like _that_ ” Mumbling to himself, Will went back to the eggs and bacon frying on the pan while Connor burst out laughing.

“Oh, come on. Stop mocking my pain and set the table before I go and raid your wardrobe, Dr. Rhodes”

The playful glitters in Will’s eyes made Connor’s tongue slipped again and words tumbled out unbidden. “You can borrow any cloth you can fit into, Will, but go put your clothes in the watching machine first. Maybe they’ll dry in time for us to go out if you do it before we eat” Connor got up to take the spatula from Will’s hand and started messing with the scrambled eggs.

“You mean now?” Will mock-pout “Breakfast is almost ready”

“Towel’s in the cupboard by the dryer. If you don’t hurry I’ll eat your share of bacon so chop-chop”

 

It took Will almost five minutes to come back to the breakfast counter and by then Connor was fishing a piece of bacon from the pile that was obviously not his. He also realized belatedly that he’d just ordered Will to strip and come back half naked in only a towel, but by the time that realization made itself known, the sound of watching machine cycling had started and Will was wandering back out to sit down beside him, giving and good-nature glare of doom and pulled the bacon out of his fingers.

“You glutton. I took my eyes off you for a minute and you try to take my food. Now be a good host and go make coffee” Making a shooing gesture, Will started in on his own breakfast so Connor shrugged and went to start the fancy coffee machine. It was one of his few indulgence, very expensive, very good coffee, but also very complicated. He was rather glad that Will didn’t try his luck with the delicate machine.

 

They took turns in the shower after breakfast and great, great coffee. As it turned out, the only article of cloth that did dry in time was Will’s boxer brief—an information Connor expressed as did not want to know at all about his friend—so he ended up wearing Connor’s grey pullover hoodie and one of his old jeans, the normally snug pair of denim riding a little lower on Will’s hip so the length was not obviously too short. The overall effect pissed Connor off a little, though, that his own jeans looked better on Will than on him. Even the pullover hanging a little off Will’s slighter frame only made the overall effect felt effortlessly cozy.

 

Connor drove them to the hospital that day since they left Will's car at the parking lot and they parted ways at the lounge as Will has to change into scrubs before signing in. ED was hectic as usual, and another woman came in to see Dr. Hals near lunch time. The woman, Araya, was Will's last volunteer patient before his official partners kicked him out of their private practice and had moved away. She was special to Will then as she lived with an abusive boyfriend and was depressed on the verge of suicide when she was introduced to Will. Her friend brought her to Will to fix her heavily scarred chin and cheekbone, but doing a breast implant was Will's suggestions so that she could get a job in the nightclubs with another ex-patient. Now she was studying law in collage. Since she would only be in Chicago for the day, Will agreed to have lunch with her in form of a sandwich in the canteen. Araya kept grabbing Will's hands to express her gratitude, that he was the only 'norm' doctor, and person, at the time who took her problems seriously and helped solving it. Getting a job meant she could support herself and moved out, and while it did not sound pretty or clean, working in a night club where her body and features were complimented regularly boosted her confidence and helped her saved up enough to pay for law school and actual therapy.

 

"I've been living with what I thought was normal and suffered, people important to me were telling me to suck it up and live with what I was born with or that I’m an ungrateful freak, then you came along and showed me that I am right the way I am, and change is not a bad thing if it made me happy." She gushed, making the doctor blushed and answered the squeeze of her hand with his own.

"Araya. It's your friend who brought you to me, I didn't do anything you didn't ask of me. But I'm glad you are happy and that I helped."

"Dr. Hals, Alexy is my friend and she's the same as me. It's her job to love me the way I am. But you. You were an outsider, a representation of the collective society. A stranger who looked me in the eyes and saw a suffering woman and not a psychiatry patient or a freak of nature. You gave me validation and a chance to see a future that I wanted to live in. For that, Dr. Hals, not the fantastic and affordable surgery, _that_ is what stayed with all of us through all these years. What made us come to see you and will keep coming to see you if we have cause to, or if we just plain miss you. Your compassion for us in our darker times is what makes you different from our other plastic surgeons. "

"Um. Er. Thank you..." Will swallowed. He had never realized what he thought was just a volunteering job that he started because he was fed up with his usual clienteles and continued because it made him felt like a doctor again and not dressmaker who wouldn't even get a chance to be creative. His self-fulfilling act might had really saved a lot of lives all along. Will was grateful that he met with Araya today and had time for her, her words warmed his heart and lifted quite a lot of weight off his shoulders. So he grabbed her hands tighter with both of his and thanked her properly, and asked her to send his appreciation to all of the girls if she could.

"Well I will do it, but maybe you could speak to Carmen personally too? She's the mama in our group and she will be happy to hear it from you" Araya laughed mildly.

"Oh. Yes, I will. I still owed her another dinner anyway—" Will suddenly recalled that the dinner he owed Carmen was actually a double date that, unfortunately, will not be possible since Nina Shore broke up with him.

"Dr.Hals?"

"Sorry. Um. I just remember I won't be able to make that happen. But I'll talk to Carmen, it’s ok" he smiled kindly at her. "Be safe on your way back to New York, Araya, and keep in touch. At least send me Christmas cards, you know where I work now" He winked.

"Will do, doctor. Thank you" Will walked her out, and Araya gave him a kiss on the cheek when he gave her a hug at the door of the ED entrance.

 

 

At the workstation, Maggie and April was watching while waiting for Dr. Rhodes to sign on his pile of paperwork. Another nurse wandered near to gossip with them when Araya left and Dr. Halstead walked into the lounge.

"I kinda see why Dr. Shore broke up with him. I wouldn't want to share him all the time like that either"

"What do you mean by sharing?" Is Maggie's response when April blurted a disbelieving "Broke up when?"

The nurse gave a quick disapproving glare at the volume and whispered "Dr. Shore broke up with him just yesterday in Pathology. Haven't you seen the line of pretty women coming to see Dr. Halstead almost every other day lately? It doesn't seem like it would stop soon and no one's seen him out and about with Dr. Shore much at all. I mean, he doesn't even look upset now does he. They broke up yesterday!"

"Ahem" The furious whispering was broken up by a pointed stare from Dr. Rhodes and he handed the document back to Maggie.

"Will _was_ upset, I assure you. So I'd appreciate it if you won't be commenting about his private life anywhere near his professional environment. Excuse me.”

He abruptly left, shoulder tensing a little while he strode away, the only sign to show that he was angry. The nurses stared after him and scattered, only Maggie made a thoughtful noise "interesting". Then an incoming patient started up the activities in the ED again and she was yelling for Dr. Halstead.

 

Connor was slightly upset about the rumors around Will and his ‘female problem’ but as he now know the full story and that Nina _did_ broke up with Will over it. And he believed that he was allowed the whole truths mainly because he was the only one who went along with Will to meet Carmen and her husband a few days ago. Or maybe Will just trusted him since they were friends now, kind of. So he was not going to say anything to upset that this early in time. Just, he was angry anyway.

As luck would have it work picked up and they became extremely busy after that. Rhodes clashed with his fellowship supervisor and learned the power of human senses. He ended up in the hospital library listening to the sounds of heartbeats that night, while thinking back to how Will must had fallen asleep to the sound of Connor's heartbeat last night.

Something changed between them after that. A few days later, Will invited Connor to see Carmen again, this time joking that it was a double date. When Connor raised an eyebrow at him, Will caved and told him about the re-invitation for Nina. Connor asked if Will was not going to talk to her again, at least to make sure that there were not any lingering doubts or misunderstandings. Will only made a thoughtful face and answered that maybe he should, but did not say anything more on the subject. Not willing to push, Connor promised to join him and his friends again if things still didn’t work out with Nina.

 

 

 

 


	4. WILL (finally)

 

 

Will caught Nina later that day when she was leaving. At first she didn't want to talk to him but allowed it when he insisted he did accept that their relationship was over and just want to talk to her so that they could at least remain friends. While he respected her wish, Will expressed his confusion over Nina's reason for break up. Still, he wanted to understand why she would think that she was not what he needed, or that they were too different.

 

"Will. We were good together and I truly believed that what we would’ve become something great. But Will, I have never seen you look happier with yourself than during the past few weeks. I realized then that was not enough to make you truly happy, Will." She reasoned

"The past few weeks...you mean since Carmen and the girls showed up? Nina, they're my old patients, of course I'm happy to see them again. That doesn't mean you don't make me happy."

"I know. But make you happier than you were and make you happy with yourself is different. I don't work with living people much but I know happiness when I see it. Of course I know I brighten your days" she smiled warmly "but you need more than that, Will, more than I can give. And I think you have found that, whatever it is, and you don't need me anymore"

"Nina, I don't have to need you to date you. I do like you, you know that."

"And I like you too, Will. But I also need more than that, too."

"Oh" Will fell silent at that until Nina hugged him. "Maybe I was wrong to tell you to go for the next best thing when you still haven't found the best thing for you yet. Now that you do, Will, don't lose sight of it again."

Will hugged her back, sighing resignedly "But we can still be friends, right" Nina laughed a little the hopeful tone. "Yes, Will, we can still be friends. I like you too much to just stop talking to you. You're about the only doctor who visit me in my dungeon so don't stop that"

 

 

 


	5. NATALIE

 

 

Dr. Natalie Manning was reading on the computer station when Will walk into the lounge. “Hey Will” she greeted while getting up and move closer to her friend at the coffee counter. “How are you doing?”

Stirring the hot coffee, he met her eyes innocently “Fine?”

“I heard about you and Nina” She hedged, not wanting to upset but still trying to help in some way. “I’m sorry”.

“Yeah. It’s ok. We’re ok now, Nat” was his answer while hiding his small smile by sipping the beverage in his hand. Natalie blinked, taken off guard that her friend really did seem alright and not very upset after being dumped. “You’re back together?” the question slipped out.

“No. Nat. I’m still freshly single. My relationship just ended amenably. Nina is cool like that.”

“But she still broke up with you, Will. I know how much you’d put in this relationship, and I’m sorry. But I’m glad you’re ok” she touched his arm in a gesture of comfort and he put his free hand on top of hers.

“Thanks, Nat, but I’m really doing ok. Well, aside from the roommate going about mostly naked all the time in the apartment. I’m good” They laughed at the joke, but more at the grimace the images produces of Will’s scruffy face.

“Well Doctor Oblivious. Don’t you think that maybe he wants you to notice that? Tell me, is he hot?” Her eyes positively glitter with humor, Natalie teased and step back a little just in case Will would spray the coffee all over her in surprise.

“Obliv—. Nat!” Will cough when the hot liquid went down the wrong pipe. “Warn me before you say something like that, will you? Urgh” he complained and wiped his mouth with the napkin Natalie handed over helpfully, the glee still not lost from her smile.

“So? He’s hot, then”

“Oh. Man. Yes, the guy is attractive alright. Very fine musculature, impressive core strength. I should know” Throwing the used paper away, he huffed “but so is Connor. Nat. The guy practically shoves his junk into my range of vision every chance he gets. Either he’s exhibitionist, or he just doesn’t care. Maybe both. Urgh”

Scrunching her nose in sympathy she nodded “You need a new roommate”, to which he responded in synchronization “I need a new roommate”

After Will had gone back out to the floor, and she looked after him stopped and chatted a little with Connor on his way before parting ways, with smiles lingered on both their face, Natalie uttered quietly to herself

 

“interesting”

 

 


	6. MAGGIE

 

 

 

It had been over a month later when Maggie realized that the stream of Dr. Hals’ pretty woman had slowed to almost a stop, like the wave of new celebrity fanclub that had subsided over time. She wondered what that was all about, as were everyone else, but since the first time Will’d asked her to come along to dinner with the first woman—Carmen, she recalled—he hadn’t asked again. No one really knew why suddenly so many people flocked to see Dr. Halstead and seemed to be his biggest fans, going so far as to ask for him when brought to the hospital. Well, no one except Dr. Rhodes, she guessed, seeing how they had become buddy-buddy since about the same time. Or a little before that, she wasn’t sure.

Thinking back to the night she’d encourage Will to approach Dr. Shore, she felt a little guilty now that they had broken up mere months after that. It had been nice to see her honorary brother moving on from Dr. Manning, who had since hooked up with Clarks and seemed more or less content with that progress. Still, Maggie sometime wondered if it really was impossible for Will and Natalie to be more than friends, and felt sad at the lost opportunities and missed timing between them.  

 

She was clearing the mess on her desk when the brother she was thinking about walked up with a bag slung over one shoulder, another being grabbed by none other than Dr. Rhodes, ready to leave for the day. They throw a cheerful “see you tomorrow” at her and someone behind her before stepping out, and Maggie saw the hand-on-shoulder slid down to hand-on-lower back before the door slid shut.

“Interesting, isn’t it” a familiar voice spoken lowly from behind startled her from her pause. Maggie turned back to find the Dr. Charles looking towards the direction of the door where the two young doctors had left from. “You think so?” she asked.

Dr. Charles looked back at her, his eyes enigmatic and seemed to see more than one would want him too as per usual. “Whatever it is, it’s been good for both of them.”

“Well my doctor Robocop has been much sunnier lately so I’m not gonna mess with a good thing here” she responded wryly. “Will’d had a bad run of it lately”

“Was it really that bad? He looks happier to me, and has been for a while”

“Yeah…they both do.” She conceded.

“Well, I’m glad our colleagues are taking care of each other and keeping each other happy. Ours is a high-stress job after all” Dr. Charles concluded mysteriously in parting as he was called away by Dr. Reese, leaving Maggie in a thoughtful mood for the rest of her shift.

 

 

 


	7. CONNOR

 

 

 

At this point in his life Connor had not expected things like this to be such a revelation, but it was.

 

Seriously, he’s half way to forty, had been to places, had seen and healed all kinds of people. The fact that he himself would suddenly find a guy attractive should not surprise him, it’s not like he’d never looked at his fellow men and felt attracted before, except it did this time. Surprised him, that was.

 

Will Halstead was just special that way.

 

The guy was annoying and infuriating, and confident and passionate and damn good at his job. He’s also surprisingly nice, caring, and seriously cute when he’s not in doctor mode. _Even_ in doctor mode, but that might be his bias talking. Connor had thought of him as just another cocky young doctor when they first met, and tolerated his attitudes, but Will had always come through when people needed him—be them patients, colleagues or friends. Still, Connor never thought that they would become _close_ like this, and wondered how it started. Was it the day he’d physically restrained Will from ruining his own career? Or the day Connor stood him up at Molly’s but Will only clapped him on the back the next day like he understood? The various spontaneous ‘buy you a drink’ back and forth, or was it that time when he saw Will asking everyone to join him for dinner and no one could but him, the one which Connor actually cancelled Dr. Robin Charles for because Will had looked so dejected.

 

However it started, they were here now, at Molly’s, with him watching Will swaggered over to the group of police officers, looking pleased as a Cheshire cat intent on causing mischief on his own brother. Connor absently wondered how did Will got the stoic, hard-boiled, obviously the boss of the squad older man to smile at his antics indulgently like that. Even half the gang seemed surprised by the reaction.

He was debating if he should get up and join Will over there when the man walked—well, _swaggered_ —back to their table, his brother in tow.

“Connor, you know my brother Jay” Will said in lieu of introduction as he dragged Jay to sit down, who had the manner to offer a handshake first. “He just reminded me how we got in a fight over you the first time you met each other, brought up all kinds of memories”

“Of when you were an asshole? Yes, I remember.” Connor answered dryly, startling a laugh out of the big brother while Will pouted _Fuck. There. Cute._ Connor looked away from the pouting and protesting friend to his brother instead, only to find himself being stared down like a deer under a rifle.

“So you’re the rising star hot shot surgeon” the policeman teased, making Connor almost thinking that the hard look just now was his imagination.

“I didn’t know Will talked to you about me” Raising an eyebrow accusingly at his now grinning friend. “I’d never live that down, huh?”

“You thought we’d forget about it, Conner? Hardly” Will gave a shit-eating grin and drank up his beer. The brothers shared a look where Jay glanced meaningfully at the beer and his own empty hands, and Will rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah big brother. I’ll get your drinks” He got up and put a hand on Connor’s shoulder and squeezed once “You want anything, Connor?”

 _For you not to leave me alone with your brother_ was what he wanted to say, but he made do with a “Nah I’m good, thanks”. Glancing at the grinning lawman sitting opposite him, Connor dreaded the next few minutes of his future.

 

It seemed as if he could sense the very second Will was out of earshot, Jay’s demeanor changed from smiley to sharp in the blink of an eye. “You know I’ve seen men looked at him like that before” He said casually.

“Um. Like that?” Connor stuttered, feeling uncomfortable with the scrutiny which was very unusual. He’s always prided himself on being able to keep his cool when people antagonized him, a lot of practice growing up with his father and his name, but what Jay was doing was different kind of accusations altogether.

“That you like what you see” while their coloring were not very similar, the brothers did share many features that reminded Connor firmly that they really were brothers. The determined gazes was one such feature, and it was targeting him at full force.

“I…, maybe”

“No maybe about it, Dr. Rhodes. I’ve seen it. Now you’ve to choose if you’ll act on it”

“Why exactly are you taking part in this again?” _I don’t even know what I want to do about this_

“He likes you enough to introduce us. He’s just oblivious to male attention, you gotta either say it to his face or be very obvious about it. Just don’t jump him, or I’ll shoot your nuts off”

“Shoot my…what are you talking about?”

“Dr. Rhodes, you were staring at my brother’s ass when he walked away from you, and at his lips when he pouted. You either want to fuck him or date him, I’m just making my parameters clear.”

“You mean this is a shovel talk”

“Hey, I’m the big brother, it’s my duty”

“You realize that Will and I are just friends”

“Not for long”

“You—”

 

It seemed Will had arrived back in in hearing proximity before he could finished his response, as Jay leaned forward to clap him, heard, on the shoulder. “Thanks, doc. I appreciate you looking out for him”

“Please tell me you didn’t talk about that thing, Jay”

“What? The man stopped you from doing something stupid and left interesting bruises for you to sport about. Of course I thanked him for it.”

“Connor, how much did you tell him?”

“About?”

“Don’t play coy Dr. Rhodes, I’m impressed you managed to make Will submit to your superior brawn” Jay interjected mischievously.

“Have you seen the bicep on him, Jay?” Grabbing said bicep to emphasize his point, Will sat down again “Of course he left bruises, I told you”

“Well the one on your collarbone was evidence otherwise”

“It was a bruise, not a hickey”

“What do you call it again? hemm, hema..?”

“Hematoma”

“Yeah, that was a good one, but maybe not on my desk sergeant next time”

“I’m never using that joke again” Will said solemnly

The brother explained to Connor the time Will tries to joke but failed utterly. The rest of the night went on in light fashion as if the few minutes of a weird mix of threat and instruction from Will’s older brother did not happen. Still, it kept Connor more aware of their interactions this time around, and he began to see that maybe this attraction did have potential to go somewhere. He just had to figure out which way he wanted to go before he made any moves. Well, at least the looks in Jay’s eyes, while twinkling with mischief, seemed to be daring him to _do something about it_.

 

 

_He’s not about to disappoint._

 

 

 


	8. JAY

 

 

As a son and big brother, Jay had always been protective over his family, most of all Will. No matter how much they fight, how much he’d scolded Will over responsibility and _seeing things through_ , his first thought the very second he heard about an explosion at Med two years ago was ‘fuck, I should have let him go to New York’ despite how it was Will himself who chose to go in to work. They’re brothers, and while they had both changed over the years they went separate ways before mom died, Jay’s always thought he knew Will like he knew himself.

 

Well, apparently, people changes when you were not looking.

 

Meeting Carmen, maybe the most vivacious _woman_ he’d ever met even counting his line of work that usually led him to all sorts of individuals, had shown him a little of how much Will’s changes had happened in New York and not his return to Chicago, not even Sudan. The picture she painted in one conversation during their first meeting—with Will’s face burning red beside him—had been that one piece of the jigsaw that complete the portrait, connected all the dots together. And Jay now looked at Will with even more pride in his eyes than there already was. His little brother, Jay decided, was a better man than him most of the time.

Of course, there were also times like this, when he wondered if Will was retarded. Seriously, the blindspot when it came to men trying to get in his pants was like a crater Jay was sure the few boyfriends Will’d talked about must had either jumped his ass or got down on their knees and declared undying love to him. His brother was _that_ obtuse. Now there’s yet another hot guy doctor trying to devour his brother with his gaze and stripping him in his mind so obviously it hurt Jay’s sensibilities, and Will still _didn’t see it._ It made Jay wants to smack something, probably his brother’s head. It’s a miracle how Will could pulled women like nobody’s businesses but never saw it coming when it came to men.  Hell, maybe even the two women who spectacularly dumped his ass in successive order knew what they were doing.

 

Despite what were said between him and Dr. Rhodes in Molly’s that night, Jay wasn’t warning the guy off his brother. He hated to say it, and would denied it until he’s blue in the face, but big brother would very much hooked them up and see them nesting like lovebirds. Stat.

See, he had seen Will in relationship— _multiple relationships_ —before, and the last time Will had been half as happy and _carefree_ as when he’s with Rhodes was in high school, when mom was still well and Jay was still home and dad was wherever. The successions of beautiful girls after that were almost routine, and his brief relationship with doc Nina would put fond smiles and relaxed strides on Will. Now there was this guy who Jay’d thought was some kind of Will’s occupational nemesis if one would listen to Will’s rant mode—which unfortunately only happened exclusively to Jay—up until about the time the past catch up with him and started visiting him at work. Jay hadn’t asked how it happened, but this friendship literally brought _bounce_ to Will’s steps so he’s gonna count the good and not look a gift horse in the mouth. Now, it’s a matter of which way Rhodes would proceed, and Jay would make sure to be aware of the situation to he could pick up the pieces later, or tease them to hell and back, whichever appropriate with the outcome.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> We need more Rhodstead in this fandom. Seriously, the chemistry is so THERE that all canon relationship now feels too forced for me XD Still, this is a pre-slash. I might explore it further if I ever have the courage to write slash (very hard to come by, that), so crossing my fingers here.


End file.
